Theodore Roosevelt's Expansion Into A Social War
I do not believe that Theodore Roosevelt was anti-business; rather he opposed their unethical practices. During this time big corporations set rates that were too high, underpaid their employees, and made employees work long hours. The Interstate Commerce Commission was established in 1887 by Grover Cleveland to investigate railroad rates and rebates. President Roosevelt introduced the Hepburn act to give the ICC the right to set rates for railroad shipping. By doing this railroads and big business were unable to set their rates too high because it no longer offered rebates.
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began on July 7, 1877 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Workers became angry when the company had reduced their wages for the second time within the previous year. “The strikers refused to let the trains run until the most recent pay cut was returned to the employees” (“Great Railroad Strike of 1877”). The decrease in wages was a result of the economy’s recent downfall.
This would damage business which would therefore damage the economy. The government would have to step in, whether directly or indirectly to maintain the stability of the system. Many workers created unions to protect workers and bully companies. “With the miners resisting, refusing to give in, the mines not able to operate, the Colorado governor (referred to by a Rockefeller mine manager as 'our little cowboy governor ') called out the National Guard, with the Rockefellers supplying the Guard 's wages” (Zinn Online). The government was willing to defend the capitalist businesses from socialist workers demanding more rights.
As the leader of the Pennsylvania independent coal merchants George was fighting significant union opposition as the industry wanted to reduce wages by 15%. The consequent strike threatened not only the companies he represented, but US Steel and the economy in general. By 1910 Westmoreland County had a strike by the United Mine Workers, called the Slovak Strike. Sixteen people were killed.
The Progressive was a period in which new crusaders, also known as the “progressives”, engaged in combat with their society’s monopolies, corruption, and social injustice in order to “strengthen the State” and “use the government as an agency of human welfare.” This motif of these reformers was seen throughout this time and ultimately produced success stories but nonetheless fell to several limitations. As one discovers, Teddy Roosevelt known to history as the “Trust-buster” played a prominent role in launching a triumphant end to dishonest monopolies and trusts. In addition to corralling the corporations during this time, Roosevelt also impacted society with his reforms to assist the common man consumer, gaining initial inspiration from The
President Theodore Roosevelt became president in 1901 after William McKinley. Roosevelt was vice-president but took the presidential position when McKinley was assassinated. He was the youngest president in United States History, but brought new excitement and power to the presidency as he led Congress and the American public towards progressive reforms and a strong foreign policy. Teddy Roosevelt had a prodigious impact on the United States during his presidency from 1901 to 1908, changing the landscape of the U.S. politically, economically, and socially. With all of his accomplishments while he was in office, consisting of the Square Deal, preserving lands, and many more, he improved the U.S overall.
Theodore Roosevelt is one of the American presidents who are remembered for the changes that they brought or made in this nation. He was the 26th president of the United States and he is remembered for his transformations and important quotes which are useful today. Theodore Roosevelt was the most youthful president in the historical background of America amid that opportunity to be in office. He had not yet turned forty three years, the required age, when he got to be a president. He played a major role in transforming the federal government and the transformations made are still in effect today (viewpoint article; Beale).
Unlike previous presidents, Roosevelt defended laborers right to organize and strike without military intervention. In 1902, Teddy Roosevelt took a hand in the anthracite coal strike after the threat of cutting off heating fuel for homes, schools, and even hospitals. He openly recruited representatives of the company and the workers to meet in the White House for a negotiation of terms as a means of mediating the issue. Roosevelt used his connections as Chief Executive to have Wall Street threaten to withhold credit from the coal companies and he even mentioned calling in the army to run the mines. His strategy paid off when the companies’ arbitrators consented to a modest pay increase as well as a shortened workday for the laborers.
Bre’onna Scott September 5, 2015 History 220 Final Draft #1 Sometimes people do not understand the cause and effect of devastating events that may happen. The Panic of 1873 contributed negatively in many ways to the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The Great Railroad Strike ended in a way that workers at the time couldn’t have imagined. The Panic of 1873 furnished The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 by supplying it with financial hardship for workers and causing African Americans to be treated unfairly in the south. How would you feel if you got laid off from a job that you depended on in order to care for your family?
A man that forever altered the United States’ federal government, Theodore Roosevelt, lead an era of reform throughout the country. During his presidency Roosevelt fought towards improving the lives of all Americans, especially those in the working class with poor living and working conditions. Theodore Roosevelt did not only plan to help Americans during his presidency, but instead of America and its future. By setting aside land to preserve the natural landscape of America and preventing giant businesses from controlling the country’s economy, Roosevelt modified the U.S. government. The federal government took great change during Roosevelt’s presidency especially through land conservation and trusts.
However, the economic crises in 1837 collapsed the labor unions because of economic hard times, and with immigrants coming in surplus willing to work for cheap, regular people could not compete and thus had to work at the beckon of the factories. Labor unions worked when the economy was resilient, but when the economy was shocked, everyone was too afraid of demanding more when there were those willing to work for
Also at the time children were still being used in factories as laborers they did not have to pay. As David A. Wells said, “[T]he modern manufacturing system has been brought into a condition comparable to that of a military organization, in which the individual no longer works as independently as formerly, but as a private in the ranks, obeying orders, keeping step, as it were, to the tap of the drum..”. Many were just like simple robots being used as cheap labor, no one took pride in their work anymore and once workers and citizens began to realize that they held many strikes to try and change what the government had set for them. Some strikes include The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, Haymarket Bombing 1886, Homestead Strike 1892, and the Pullman Strike 1894. These strikes were held by many different labor unions that had formed at the time, to the public many saw the movements of the unions as radical and aggressive.
Miners had to go through many struggles whether it be being paid so little it results in poverty and hunger, working through dangerous conditions that cause accidents and miners being seriously injured and killed, when protesting for these rights for decent pay and better safety they were beaten by company thugs or even the police, they lived in company towns that helped little and made debts go up which resulted in families being forced out of their company houses, and when finally getting these basic rights many miners fell ill due to breathing in the coal dust for many years and no protection from it. Coal mining may have created jobs for poor men and immigrants, and earned the government money yet miners and their families for many years were ignored and looked after so terribly that many lives were lost too prematurely. " The company couldn 't be loved as it many times in the past proved, it didn 't love us." -James
In the Odyssey, Penelope is represented as the “ideal wife”, she embodies the values within greek culture during that time and is an important figure in the Odyssey because of her admirable traits like fidelity and integrity. In one case, a minstrel is singing a song about the arrival of the Akahians as they return home, this prompts Penelope to respond by saying, “But sing no more/this bitter tale that wears my heart away./ It opens in me again the wound of longing/ for one incomparable, ever in my mind- /his fame all Hellas knows, and midland Argos” (1.391-395) In this we see Penelope’s faithfulness toward Odysseus, she begs the minstrel to cease his song because of it’s connection to her husband.
Profits for the farmers were getting smaller and smaller due to the increase in prices for the goods to be sold. These farmers believed in many different things- they believed in rules and regulations for the road (which included the fact that the government should control the railroad), lower tariffs, and that money should be based off of silver standard. For the industrial workers, their working conditions were not ideal. Each worker did not get paid nearly enough to support them and their families, even though they worked ten plus hour days, six days a week. Workers were not paid for sick days or injury.
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